Saturday, 27 March 2010



In Bangladesh, working and watching cricket, I also became a little obsessed with the painted and decorated cycle rickshaws that are everywhere. 'The people their culture - likes and dislikes - are conveyed through paintings done at the back of peddle rickshaw' (Dr Khalid Hasan writing in a Brand Forum publication). They have idyllic places, heroes and heroines from films, and decorated curtains and chrome. My idyllic place is the Sher-e-Bangla national cricket stadium, my heroes are the vocal wicketkeeper for Bangladesh, Mushfiqur and the grim faced Enland batsmen who wore down the opposition. My curtains and adorned with pictures of the match, whilst my chrome is overlaid with the key moments from the game. Luckily, I was able to make a design for my own rickshaw while in Bangladesh and very soon it could be seen plying for trade in the street of Dhaka!

Tuesday, 9 March 2010

We never told them how much we loved this tree,
Ripening to maturity,
Striped by age, but not crippled.
But someone's gripe,
Risk assessment tripe,
Tripped up,
Ripped down,
Machine's grip
Strips.
RIP
Tree.